Event

MY TOXIC BABY

**This screening will be followed by a TalkBack.** This eye-opening, often amusing documentary by the director of Tiger Spirit, winner of Canada's prestigious Donald Brittain Gemini Award, records the filmmaker's quest for safe, sane and affordable ways to raise her child in a world embedded with toxic threats and still lead a normal life. Although new mother Min Sook Lee breast fed her daughter from birth, she used baby bottles too, only to discover that they leached a chemical byproduct linked to impaired health and serious diseases. This set in motion a journey that exposes hidden dangers in infant bath soaps, diaper rash creams, teething toys and many everyday products from an industry largely unregulated by law. For Lee, it also uncovers risks posed by our own homes and chemical contaminants we carry within our own bodies.

Her search introduces us to others, including nursing mothers and parents helping to build youngsters' natural immune systems, who are seeking alternative choices themselves and finding healthier, environment-friendly ways to rear their children. A personal essay that packs a punch, MY TOXIC BABY throws a spotlight on non-hazardous options that are available in our chemically saturated world, and further emphasizes women's particular concerns about environmental hazards and health.